Helped Mom study for her citizenship test
Peg Anderson, Westborough, MA. Mom came here after WWll from Newfoundland, Canada. When I was in the fifth grade she became a citizen. I used...
Their house smells like anyone else’s
Steve Llanso, USA Pretty white and wholly ignorant, isn’t it? Here’s the back story: I grew up in the ’50s and 60s in northern New...
I will burn the house down.
Eric Chesapeake Beach, MD 1974, I was 14 years old; my dad was in the Army, we were moving to Ohio from Weaver, Alabama. The...
The house I did not build
Adam Paberzs, Ann Arbor, MI. Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan Here are some other 6-word essays that you may use under my name (I...
I thought your house would be big
Michelle Robillard, Lake Forest, CA. I’ve never lived in a “house.” It’s always been an apartment or condo, never had my own room except when...
Who’s that person at your house?
Ismail A., Minneapolis, MN. My name is Ismail and I live in Minneapolis. I am Somali and I live with my family in an apartment...
Showing my black daughter the cabins
Benjamin Baugh, Athens, GA. I am a white man and my daughter is a black girl. One day, I will have to walk with her...
You didn’t tell me he’s black.
Laura Brengel Clifton Park, NY This is something a “friend” said to me as we dropped the kids off at her house so we could...
Black business is GREAT business too!
Anika Dixon, Little Rock, AR. The color of my skin should not determine the type of house I can sell you or the type of...
I’m white but I have struggles
Adam Vanden Berg Byron Center, MI Just because I white does not mean that I haven’t had hard times in life. In the media it...
Mom didn’t want friend at house
Anne Reid Ravenna, OH In elementary school I brought 3 friends home after school one day, one a black girl. I was surprised when she...
He’s not allowed in this house
Linda Basilicato Frederick, MD My mother’s comment on my new, polite, handsome, articulate, smart, college boyfriend in 1993. “I had black friends–in school.” (My mother’s...
